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That's like saying "War and Peace isn't a big book because it isn't even as big as the smallest car". Yes, both can be measured in the same units (e.g. weight
by lliamander 5y ago
That's like saying "War and Peace isn't a big book because it isn't even as big as the smallest car". Yes, both can be measured in the same units (e.g. weight or volume) but that doesn't mean the comparison makes sense.
You have to compare things which are in some sense alternatives of each other. The question is not "is the vaccine safer than driving" but "is the vaccine safer than not getting the vaccine?".
Sure, if you don't get the vaccine there's a certain risk of getting COVID and subsequently having serious disease (though if you are a young and healthy that risk appears to be relatively low).
And certainly the vaccine lowers your risk of getting serious disease (for now) but it doesn't entirely erase that risk. So now you have figure out what the long-term risks of adverse reaction to the vaccine are, plus the long-term risk that you will still get serious COVID disease anyway (due to the narrow immunity provided by the vaccine).
For young, healthy people it's not clear to me the vaccine is all that much safer than not getting it. If you can show me, by a breakdown of these risks by age and health, that the I'm wrong and the vaccine is much safer I would be very open to it. As it is, I've tried to find something comprehensive and I cannot.
- im3w1l 5y agoI can only speak to myself, but I decided that covid is not a threat to me, and neither is the vaccine (being safer than driving). Hence I would just go with the path of least resistance: take the damn vaccine so people will shut up about it and let me be part of society. Point is that the absolute risk matters too: If it's low enough you can just shrug and do whatever.
- lliamander 5y ago> Hence I would just go with the path of least resistance: take the damn vaccine so people will shut up about it and let me be part of society. Yeah, I'm not inclined acquiesce to irrational demands, and I'm comfortable being in the control group (for now). > Point is that the absolute risk matters too: If it's low enough you can just shrug and do whatever. That's fair.
- TechBro8615 5y agoThis is a strange definition of the path of least resistance. Wouldn’t that be doing nothing?
- XorNot 5y agoMyocarditis is not fatal, and not permanent.
- lliamander 5y agoIs this intended to be an answer to my question, or a refutation to some point I made?
- sarpeedo 5y agoThis perspective of "the vaccine" may not be the best approach. It might be better to instead say given the choice of Moderna Vaccine vs Pfizer-BioNTech vs Johnson-Johnson etc, which vaccine is the best choice for the recipients demographics and wishes. Maybe convenience is the highest priority (prefer single dose). Maybe effectiveness against delta is the highest priority (prefer Moderna). Maybe minimizing risk of myocarditis is a priority (say you have a history of autoimmune over reaction). Ultimately, not only do we have the choice to get vaccinated, we also have the choice of which vaccine to get and this new data allows the population to make more informed choices about which vaccine is right for them.